Writing English 1B: Supporting post for final writing assignment - comparison & contrast with music (Part 1)・期末作文のサポート「音楽の比較対照」(Part 1)

Hello!

How are you? Here is a Part 1 support post for students who are interested in writing a comparison and contrast composition (作文) for the final writing assignment. 

Task 
Check out these four (4) video files. Select two (2) to write about. Listen to them as many times as you want or need. Compare and contrast (比較対照して) them with each other. They are instrumental pieces of music only - there are no words or vocals. 

When writing your comparison and contrast, write about these points: 

In the introduction, show the titles of the pieces of music and who (or whose people) made them. What instruments (楽器) are the most they show? For example, piano, some brass, guitar, violins, and so forth. Find out when they were written, and if they come from albums - what the titles of the albums are. 

Then, show what the dynamics of sound are in the two pieces of music - for example, uptempo, quiet, calm then excited, and so on. 

After that, begin bringing in your understandings or ideas about each piece of music. What do you believe the artists are expressing through their works? What might the sounds give you feelings about? Even more - what kind of scenarios might each piece of music give you feelings about? What do you imagine as you see and think about them? 

Finally - which music did you like better? What qualities (質、優劣) did it have that made you like it more than the other piece of music? 

Now choose two (2) of the following pieces of music for your comparison and contrast: 

Nils Petter Molvaer, "A Small Realm"

Sereny Magyaros, "Az Ordog Ut" (traditional Hungarian dance)

Jeff Beck,"The Final Peace"

Frank Zappa, "Little Umbrellas"

I hope these pieces of music give you ideas and feelings to try a different kind of writing for your final assignment. 

Take care! See you next week!

Image - By Modest Mussorgsky - Sheet Music, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15347349

Video files uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to the files or the musical compositions within them. All rights reserved to the copyright holders of the files and compositions respectively. 

Words on Music (Part 2): your writing

Hello again!

How are you? Here is more of your great writing on music! Click on these links for the pieces of music here, here, here, and here. 

Here's the first piece of writing. What do you think of it? 

There was a man in somewhere. He was gentle and funny. One day, he went to one town. The town was fantastic and wonderful. And the man came across a woman. The woman is very beautiful. He fell in love, then he told to her. So they went to a café and they became friendly. But he loved her. When he came home, he thought “I have to say my mind to her.” And he said “I love you.” She was very surprised, but she said “Me too.” After nine months, they were married.

The woman lived 40 more years. He was very sad every day. The woman was very important person for him. He and she didn’t have a child. But they were very happy. So, he became alone.

One day, he had a dream. The dream was very happy. This was that they meet first. They were young and brilliant. He was crying and smiling during dreaming. When he waked up, he felt happiness. And he looked theirs album. All of pictures were full with happiness. He couldn’t stop tears. But he heard her voice “Sorry. But I want you to live a long time. Please, please.” Then he decided to live as much as possible. So after 10 years, he died silently and his face was very gentle and happy.

Wow! An incredible and moving ending. Here's another:

One day, there was a man of one. He is office worker in near big enterprise. He has worry and anxiety. He walking round the office, and he found the bar. There is the bar in near office. He went into the bar. The bar had a lot of people. For example, smoking man, woman drinking liquor, man to make a drink, and man playing the piano.

He sat in closer from the door, and he asked liquor. He heard the sound of the piano while drinking. He was moved by sound of the piano. His sound healed his heart. He was quiet listening to the worries and troubles. He went to this bar every day, and he heard the sound of the piano. He was overworked. So, he lost sight of own. But, he wanted to enjoy the life by his sound of the piano.

He has changed. He left the job, and he traveled. He went to a lot of country, and he met many people. He heard their experience. He lived for me until now. But, he is going to live for other people. He founded the company of volunteers, and he was success. He began to a new life by his sound of the piano.

Another incredible story! Let's read another:

A beautiful girl was in a beautiful place. There were a beautiful river, beautiful flowers, beautiful fruits, and a beautiful lake. It was the most wonderful and beautiful place in the world. However, there was nobody but her, and she had thought she had been all alone until she would be dead.

One day, a boy came into the place. He was an adventurer, so he had wanted to walk around the world. When he looked around the place, he was surprised. “What a beautiful view!” he said. As soon as the girl heard the voice, she ran to him, and they met each other for the first time. “What a beautiful girl.” he said. They looked at each other, and they fell in love. After that, they spent each loving day.

When they had their first kiss, an accident happened. Actually, she had a secret. If she would kiss someone, the one would be dead. They had never known the secret, so they kissed each other. Soon, he fell down right there, and she was into a panic. “What’s happened!” she screamed, but his eyes kept closing. She became all alone again.  

Now that was great! Let's see one more! 

When I came to I was in the silent forest. I don't know what brought me here. The big and tall trees surround me and they don't allow me to see the sky. I started walking to find the other creatures, but nothing was found by me. 

I wandered in the forest, but I don’t know how long I wandered. I felt I may get tired, so I decided to take a break. When I sat down on the ground, I heard any sound. I tried to find where the sound come from. It was a bird. It flied around me as if he invite me to somewhere. Therefore, I followed him. I think I walked so long distance, but I didn’t get tired. He brought me to the small space where is not surrounded by the trees.

When I came to I was in noisy station where I used to use to go to the university. I was surrounded by a lot of people. They were interested in nothing except themselves and they continued their walking. Then, I understood there are no change between the silent forest and the noisy station.

Another interesting story! Click on the page link to read more:

Words on Music (Part 1): your writing

Hello to all of you!

How are you? I know the university is finished until April, but I wanted to upload some more of your great writing on the music I played for you in class. 

First, here are the selections of music I played for you. Here is The Bad Plus, with "Big Eater":

Next, is Weather Report with "Teen Town":

After that, we have Jeff Beck's "The Final Peace": 

Finally, here is Jason Moran and "Gentle Shifts South":

After the page break, let's read your great writing about these different pieces of music! Can you guess which writing is about which music? Take your guess!

Writing about music/音楽を書いて (Part 2)

Hello!

How are you? Here is the third video to this piece of music I played for you in class - Jeff Beck's "The Final Peace." 

Here is the music again:

To learn more about Jeff Beck, click on this link here to a Wikipedia article in Japanese about him. 

Now here is the fourth video to this piece of music I played for you - Jason Moran's "Gentle Shifts South."

Here is the music again. There is a voice that comes over the music sometimes - sorry, I can't edit that out!:

To learn more about Jason Moran, click on this link here to a Wikipedia article about him. There is no article in Japanese about him, so the article is in English, and it's long - so you don't have to read the whole article! Only the beginning part about him, if you like. 

Does listening to this music again and knowing more about these musicians change what you wrote about the music? It might - but please do not change your stories!

Post a comment about what you learned, or what you think about these artists, in the comments section!

See you next time!

Image: "Water Drops In Rainy Day" courtesy of Toa55/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Videos uploaded from YouTube. Uploaded for educational purposes. No copyright infringement intended. All rights reserved to the copyright owner(s).